BBC cuts 'a very sensible move' says media analyst
As BBC director general Mark Thompson gets set to undertake a strategic review which could see its online team cut by half and budgets slashed by nearly a quarter, one media analyst has said that he believes this will be good news for commercial media.
Paul Richards, media analyst for independent investment banking and broking Group Numis Securities said that the company’s potential plans to slim down its online and commercial operations was “probably a very sensible move.”
Other areas which will be considered as part of the review will be the future of radio stations BBC 6Music and the Asian Network, while sports rights may also be capped at 8.5% of the license fee.
BBC Magazines, which publishes the Radio Times, may also be sold off, while the number of films and TV show’s bought from overseas may also be cut back by 25%.
Richards continued to say that there had been a clear view from commercial players in the market that the BBC had overstepped its remit and people within the industry would be pleased to see the BBC taking ‘a step back’.
“Some might argue that it hasn’t gone far enough while others will believe that it is a step in the right direction,” he added.
Media outlets have already been up in arms recently following the BBC’s plans to roll out mobile phone applications to deliver its content with newspaper publishers under the belief that this will further harm their sales figures with the delivery of free national and regional news to phone handsets.
“There is a crossroads with the commercial sector, such as with national newspapers, with the launch of the iPad and Kindle’s coming into the UK, we’ve got a pivotal moment in terms of charging for online content and obviously the BBC is the country’s biggest online newspaper,” continued Richards.
“The BBC is trying to make sure that they don’t disadvantage the commercial players in that market which is why they want to link to newspaper sites so that newspapers can start better monetising their content.”
The outcome of the review will be delivered by April.